Its well known on these forums that you hate the game and in fact don't play anymore. So why are you still here?

Ah yes! The statement that's so original it has to be marched out in every thread I talk in. And then, hey, when I answer... they flee in fear because I'm offering a reasonable, valid answer! Oh no, logic! Logic is like the kryptonite of faithfuls like yourself. So, hey, I'll answer you again. No skin off my nose.

In fact, I'm going to copy this to an .rtf file so that I can spam it whenever it's necessary. So, let's get to the meat of the matter, shall we? The response you seem to dread.

I stick around for two reasons.

The debate will be illuminating for future developers.

It's a discussion of horizontal versus vertical progression, and the evils of things like taxes, and what constitutes good or bad game design. I've had a lot of input on this and I've suggested many ways in which ArenaNet can fix their game, or ways in which future developers can avoid replicating the entertaining failure that is GW2.

The fact of the matter is is that horizontal progression fans on the forums seem to outnumber faithfuls 5 to 1, and that number seems to be growing more and more all the time (I'll come back to this below). Also, the arguments for horizontal progression are more sensible and reasonable than those for vertical. Ultimately, it goes something like this:

"I like horizontal progression. I don't want stats to play the game for me, furthermore, I'm not a fan of the moving goalposts and item grinds that accompany such poor design decisions."

"I like vertical progression. And you're a poopoo head who should get out of my forum and give me a walled garden community!"

So, yeah. This is going to be an interesting resource for future developers. And don't think that they won't come across discussions like these. Either via searches or knowing where they are and following them. I'll state it again: My observations show that horizontal progression fans outnumber vertical progression fans, and have more reasonable, sensible arguments.

Thiiiis brings me to point two!

It's a train wreck, isn't it?

See, I'm watching the hope of the ArenaNet hopefuls deteriorate every day. Bit. By bit. By bit. And the comment I get flung my way for my efforts now is, indeed, that I am a poopoo head and that I should get out of the forums so that faithfuls can have their walled garden. But why do they want a walled garden? That's the question! That is the question, isn't it?

It's because when one of my camp argues with an ArenaNet hopeful, we tend to put forth very sensible ideas (like why taxes are bad and exploitative, or why vertical progression takes away from displays of player skill only to offer a placebo effect in its place that convinces bad players that they're good). What we get is, to say it again, insults, fallacies, character assassination, and an increasingly desperate attempt to just get rid of us.

You're that desperate right now that if you had a 'kill all haters' button, you'd probably press it. And that's terrifying to me, that you're that far gone. But with each valid post you read, we're bringing you back to reality. And reality is a good place to be, rather than the elysian fields of delusion. Because that's merely an illusion, and the illusion has to be shattered eventually. And for the sake of your mental well being, it's better shattered sooner than later.

so, hey, I guess you can consider me a good samaritan in a way. Since I can see that you're trying so hard to delude yourself. And that's what these screams for a walled garden are about. If you were really confident in your game, you'd be playing it and citing valid, logical reasons as to why it's a good game. Instead, you're hanging around the forum all day at the expense of everything else, and making desperate attacks in the hopes that us naysayers will all just ... dissappear.

I doubt you'll counter this. I don't think you have it in you. You're asking for a walled garden community, so of course you don't. In fact, half of the reason you're hanging onto your delusion is clearly because you don't want to admit that you were wrong. Because that makes you look stupid. I've already passed that point, myself. I had the balls to man up and do it. I admitted that I was being something of a retard by believing in ArenaNet, and that I should have seen the signs.

I caught onto this in the beta weekends, when I started talking to my friends about the negative changes they were making. And when the game launched, we quickly became tired of the taxes and the grind. Not only that, but other poor design choices, like combat which is as agonisingly slow as treacle, which is distinctly unfun. Combat which only reaffirms the placebo affects of stats deciding one's awesomeness.

So I came here to see what other people thought.

I'm surprised that so many people are hanging onto the illusion that this is a good game. It isn't. So it's morbid curiosity at this point. The question remains: "How many times do ArenaNet have to stab you in the back before you realise what's going on?" And that's why the faithfuls are becoming silent, or joining my camp. Because each new backstab, like Ascended armour, is making people realise that GW2 is a distinctly unfun game. And an exploitative one at that.

You can't deny that the gambling aspects of the mystic forge are exploitative, you can't deny that keeping the amount of money in players hands and then putting artificially high prices on things in order for them to buy gems from the cash shop to convert to gold is exploitative, you can't deny that the taxes themselves are exploitative. Guild Wars 2 is a cynical example of exploitation, and how some people just like to bend over and take it up the butt.

So I'm morbidly curious. Where is your shame? Where is your self-respect? Why do you do this to yourself? There are developers out there who'll treat you better, like people and not walking wallets, less cynically. Mostly single-player devs and indies, yes. But hell, there are even some online multi-player games (like Mass Effect 3's multi-player) and some MMOs (like Dungeons & Dragons: Online) which will treat you more like a person.

It's just... I can't stop watching. When will you come to your senses?

Anyway, this has been copied to a file. Going to just paste it when necessary. This statement you've made is that unoriginal that I'm having to come up with a PR-like canned response to it! Doesn't that tell you something?